Loughrea AC

olive loughnane is on the move literally as she prepares for the 2008 olympic games being held in beijing. indeed entering her third olympics the loughrea ac athlete can look foward in confidence given her preparations and recent excellent form.

The following three thursday evenings are the dates for the galway track and field series 2008, all events take place in dangan with an 8pm start.
june 19
track; 100m,800m,distance medley relay
field;shot putt, long jump
july 3
track;100/110 hurdles,200m,1500m,4 by 400
field;javelin
july 17
track;400m,5000m,4 by 100
field;high jump ,discus

In the galway schools track held recently in dangan two loughrea ac athletes won triple gold namely laura shaughnessy in the 400m hurdles,1500m and 3000m her clubmate melissa barrett won her gold in the shot putt, discus, and javelin. Both girls distinguished themselves further with laura winning an all ireland bronze medal in the 3000.

The loughrea leg of the Galway 5Km series takes place on may 27 on the old galway road, it is the same course as last years race that proved such a big hit with the athletes.

This year 2008 Loughrea Athletic Club celebrates the 40th Anniversary of the formation of the club (1968). Both Colm Moorehead and T.J.Beatty have been associated with Loughrea Athletic Club from almost the very beginning of it’s existence and while both recently (T.J. in 2007 and Colm this year) resigned as Officer’s of the club but, thankfully, both remain on as committee members.

Over the years both have served as Chairman, Secretary or Treasurer as the need arose and both have left a lasting legacy on Athletics in Loughrea and surrounding area.

Athletic field events were the order of the day for u12, u14 and u16 boys and girls community games hosted by loughrea ac yesterday april 22, 2008.
The weather gods,however, did not read the script with cold conditions prevailing but this did not dampen the spirit of the young athletes. The competition was exciting with sprint (Hannonesque) finishes, and runners being pipped at the finish line for top place on the podium, and that prestigious community games gold medal.

David Reilly from Loughrea AC ran his first ever Marathon in London on 13th of April in a time of 3 Hours 13 Minutes and 56 Seconds.

This was superb effort from Loughrea man in ideally weather conditions around London

Time Distance
21:24 5 K
42:35 10 K
1:03:43 15 K
1:25:21 20 K
1:30:05 Half
1:47:21 25 K
2:10:28 30 K
2:35:45 35 K
3:02:27 40 K
3:13:56 Finish

Seven local primary schools converged on sun drenched bushfield, home of Loughrea athletics club to battle for the inaugural Manning primary schools competition.
The running, long jump and ball throw events were keenly contested, and there was a great buzz at the finish line where the winners of each event were hailed as heroes by their classmates.
Loughrea AC would like to thank the seven schools ,students, their principals, teachers, parents and finally the Manning family for their sponsorship of the event.
For the record this is how the schools fared out, well done.

On Saturday the 5th of April at the All Ireland U19 Indoor Championship in Nenagh Laura Shaughnessy won a Bronze medal in the 1,500 Metres in a time of 4 minutes 56 seconds.

Congrats on a brilliant performance

On Sunday 6th of April Jarlath Fitzgerald from Loughrea athletics club celebrated his 78th Marathon in style by running the Connemara Ultra Marathon. Weather Conditions for the road race were poor with Wind, rain and hailstones for the runners. Jarlath finished in 32nd position in a time of 6 Hours 1 Minute and 16 Seconds in this grueling 39.1 mile road race

His first marathon road race was back in 1990 in the Dublin City Marathon and in a time of 3 Hours,27 Minutes and 57 Seconds. His Personnel best was 3 hours and 24 Minutes set in Malta in 1995